Two Barn-Stored Aston Martins Emerge and Head to Auction

If you thought that all barns, sheds, and garages in the UK have been checked by now for forgotten or misplaced Aston Martins, we have a once-dynamic duo to show you: a 1973 Aston Martin V8 and a 1971 Aston Martin DBS have just emerged from a barn after decades of slumber, and are now in need of new homes and new restorations. The two will be offered as separate lots by Bonhams Auctions later this month at the MPH May auction in Bicester, UK.

The 1973 Aston Martin V8 in question hails from the fourth year of manufacture of this model, which was designed as a successor to the DB6, launching an era that would span two decades for the automaker. The V8 featured a muscular design and a muscular engine underhood following the long run of inline-six designs, with a 5.3-liter V8 designed by Tadek Marek giving the coupe about 315 hp—in the case of this car paired with an automatic transmission.

The car that Bonhams will offer later this month has been the property of the consigning owner since 1984, with the current owner being the car's fourth keeper. This V8 is reported to have been dry-stored in a barn since the late 1980s, and is said to have been "discovered by Bonhams specialists." The reasons for its three-decade-long storage have not been publicized, with the coupe said to have been first registered in November 1973.

Photos of the interior show certainly show evidence of a 30-year slumber, but the interior appears complete and no major item seems missing, looking used but not especially worn, even if a bit dirty. The driver's seat appears to be far more used than the other seats, while the rear seats appear merely in need of a good cleaning. The body panels show cracks in the paint and just about all other types of wear, including surface rust. The odometer currently displays 81,822 miles, though the auction house is not making any claims about its veracity.

The auction house estimates this V8 to bring between £25,000 and £30,000 on auction day, which translates to between $35,000 and $42,000.

This car will need a complete restoration. The good news is that nothing appears to be missing, and even the three-decade-old tires appear to have been inflated successfully for the car to be rolled out and photographed. The interior, including the seats, appears salvageable and restorable, and there's even a cassette sticking out of the tape deck, as if left there the last time this car was driven.

It certainly helps that this particular model is seeing growth in demand among collectors, but it's clear that a concours restoration needed here will run six figures, after the purchase of the project car itself. And then again, it's possible to get into a good enough example of this model for about double the top estimate, and about triple for a concours-grade one. So this equation may not make sense to all bidders.